Infineon Accelerates Development of IBIS-AMI Models for SerDes Designs
“The process of creating and configuring IBIS-AMI models with SerDes Toolbox is straightforward and fast to learn. After completing it once ourselves, we had full control over IBIS-AMI model creation, and eliminated our dependence on contractors.”
Challenge
Produce a complete IBIS-AMI model of a SerDes system for a key customer on an aggressive schedule
Solution
Use Simulink and SerDes Toolbox to develop, verify, and deliver an IBIS-AMI model in two weeks
Results
- Complete IBIS-AMI models delivered in two weeks
- Development ramp-up accelerated
- In-house IBIS-AMI capability developed
Infineon semiconductor.
Semiconductor companies that create serializer/deserializer (SerDes) systems often need to distribute simulation models of their designs to potential customers. The IBIS-AMI modeling standard provides a way to share designs that include advanced equalization and clock data recovery (CDR) algorithms without exposing intellectual property (IP). Developing IBIS-AMI models, however, can be time consuming.
Engineers at Infineon accelerated IBIS-AMI model development by using Simulink® and SerDes Toolbox™. The team delivered their first IBIS-AMI model just two weeks after it was requested by a key customer.
“The workflow we followed with SerDes toolbox was the fastest, shortest path to delivering an IBIS-AMI model to our customer,” says Syed Babar Raza, senior director at Infineon. “Plus, we now have the skills and the ability to reuse parts of the model to produce IBIS-AMI models for other designs and other customers.”
Challenge
The Infineon engineering team had experience with standard IBIS models but not with IBIS-AMI models. When the customer requested an IBIS-AMI model for an Infineon USB SerDes, the team was given just two weeks to create, validate, and deliver it.
Infineon considered engaging a contractor to develop the model, but decided against this approach. First, it would require Infineon to share sensitive IP with a third party. Second, the company would require the services of a contractor for the next customer that requested an IBIS-AMI model. Infineon wanted to develop its own model in-house and establish a workflow for rapidly developing similar models in the future.
Solution
Infineon engineers created the IBIS-AMI model using Simulink and SerDes Toolbox.
The team worked with MathWorks engineers to configure their development environment and walk through the example implementations provided in the toolbox.
Working in the SerDes Designer app, the team assembled and configured datapath blocks to create the AMI model architecture. The model architecture included a feedforward equalizer (FFE) to provide pre-emphasis for the high-frequency, leading-edge bit transitions in the transmitter, a basic channel submodel, and a continuous-time linear equalizer (CTLE) in the receiver.
After generating eye diagrams to visualize and check signal quality, the team exported this model architecture to Simulink, where they customized the gain, min/max corners, and other model parameters to match their SerDes design.
The team ran simulations in Simulink to verify the customizations and then used SerDes Toolbox to generate IBIS-AMI transmitter and receiver models.
As a final verification step, the team imported the generated models into SiSoft® Quantum Channel Designer™ (QCD) and ran channel simulations.
The team delivered the IBIS-AMI models to their customer on schedule. Infineon teams working on high-speed SerDes designs for USB, PCIe, and DisplayPort applications will use the same workflow to create IBIS-AMI models as customers request them.
Results
- Complete IBIS-AMI models delivered in two weeks. “Without SerDes Toolbox, we would have had to contract the work out,” says Nick Bodnaruk, principal electrical design engineer at Infineon. “Even then, with all the back-and-forth required, it would have been extremely difficult to complete the work in just two weeks—and we would have had to divulge our IP, as well.”
- Development ramp-up accelerated. “The MathWorks engineers we worked with helped us quickly get started with IBIS-AMI modeling, shepherded us through the technical challenges, and walked through examples that showed us how to use SerDes Toolbox, Simulink, and QCD together,” says Bodnaruk.
- In-house IBIS-AMI capability developed. “Our team has learned how to create their own IBIS-AMI models, and they’re continuing to build their expertise as we begin developing models for higher-speed SerDes systems,” notes Raza.
